


Blooming Romance

by EpicNerd



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Noir Has Hanahaki Disease, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Has Realizations, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Realizes Feelings For Chat Noir
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29429574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpicNerd/pseuds/EpicNerd
Summary: Chat Noir has something to hide from his partner, Ladybug, and it isn’t just his identity.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 3
Kudos: 65





	Blooming Romance

For the very first time since he became a superhero, Chat Noir was thankful that Ladybug wasn’t around. He was only glad that this was the case, of course, because he was choking and trying to breathe through the feeling of his lungs being scratched up from the inside. He covered his mouth with his hand as he wheezed, and, when he pulled it back, a red chrysanthemum petal rested in his palm.

Quickly discarding it, Chat clears his throat and uses his staff to pole-vault across rooftops; he refuses to let any condition keep his lady waiting. Still, his heart weighed heavily while he physically soared. Part of him had held on to the belief, the hope, that Ladybug was simply denying her feelings about him in the name of their responsibility to protect Paris from Hawkmoth. But, from the moment that he could feel flowers growing in his lungs, he knew that his feelings were completely, utterly, and hopelessly unrequited.

Hanahaki disease felt surreal when he first heard about it. How could something as pure as devoted love be punishable? It felt like a naive thought now, now that he knew his time was limited by giving his heart to Ladybug, his partner and his best friend. There was...an alternative cure, for his condition. He could have the flowers surgically removed. He could afford it, and his father would probably demand the surgery if Adrien didn’t hide it from him. But the surgery has a cost that reaches far beyond monetary value; his love for Ladybug would be removed, as well.

Such a possibility felt so alien that it made Chat Noir feel more ill than the petals. Being a person who didn’t love Ladybug was a person he didn’t know, and it certainly was a person he didn’t want to be. Loving Ladybug makes him feel alive, and he is still able to breathe more around her, flowers and all.

Landing on the Eiffel Tower, standing tall in the City of Love, Chat Noir felt starstruck all over again when his gaze locked on Ladybug. She turned around to face him, her eyes glimmering in the shining lights illuminating the night. He could feel a goofy grin spread across his face, and his legs felt like jelly; he would surely physically fall for her if he wasn’t leaning on his staff. No, he could never give this up.

“Hey, Bugaboo! Did you miss me?”

Ladybug giggled at his words, and he couldn’t help but beam with pride. It honestly wouldn’t matter what the laugh actually sounded like, not in the slightest. It’s more the principle that it’s a sound of joy that makes it sound melodious to his ears, a song he hopes to never forget.

“Hi, Kitty. You ready to start patrol? It’s been quiet tonight, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Chat Noir hummed in response. Ladybug leaps off of the tower, using her yo-yo to swing through the sky. He watched her for a moment, completely mesmerized. When he regains his composure, he chases after it, finding the feeling euphoric when he’s by her side once again.

He thought that the sudden feeling of dizziness was just his head buzzing with dopamine, but, when he loses his footing and almost falls off a roof, he dreads what’s about to happen. Ladybug is able to react in time, and she pulls him back up. He hunches over quickly, bracing his back against a chimney as his chest shook and his voice wheezed.

“Chat Noir? What’s wrong?” Ladybug asks, worry consuming her as she puts her hand on his shoulder and tries to catch his line of vision.

His body felt lit aflame, and his arms and legs felt prickly. He could feel a mass moving up from his lungs and into his airway. He coughed again and again, choking in trying to dislodge it. The mass travels up his throat, and it tumbles out of his mouth into his hand. Gasping for air, Chat squeezes his eyes shut as he focused on nothing but breathing.

Ladybug stared at the flower in his hand, her mind drawing a blank when she tried to make sense of it. When it clicks what she’s staring at, she’s only left with more confusion. How could Chat Noir be suffering from Hanahaki disease? He was a huge flirt, clearly a serial-romancer, right? There’s no way he could be in love with someone, right?

“I’m sorry, LB. I really didn’t want you to know, even if it meant that I would have to hide it from you. Well, try to hide it,” Chat Noir says through shuddering breaths.

Tears of pain pricked his eyes, and Ladybug brushed a stray one away with her finger. A knot tightened in her stomach as the looming realization threatened to crush her. Chat Noir sinks to the ground, and Ladybug gets on her knees to stay level with him.

“I-...you-...who-...you should’ve told me,” she splutters, her words failing her.

He looks up at her, managing a weak smile when he sees her furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips. His eyes travel up and down her face, memorizing her features again and again.

“Chat, who...who is it?” she asks, her mind reeling.

Their gazes lock, and a feeling of failure washes over him that he hadn’t been doing everything he could to make her feel as loved as possible with question, without wavering.

“You, Ladybug. It’s always been you, and it always will be you. I may be a bit of a goofball, but I’m nowhere near being some sort of idiot that can’t see how miraculous you truly are. Kind, brave, bold, passionate, beautiful, elegant...I would shout from the rooftops about how completely amazing and magical you are if you’d let me-and it really is ok that you won’t. You’re crazy awesome, Ladybug, and the black cat must be a symbol of good luck if it allows me to stand by your side. I’m in love with you!”

His words rang clearly, and Ladybug felt his truth in her chest. For what felt like the first real time, she looked at him, truly looked at him. She took in his light and his smile, his caring and selfless being, and she felt herself melt. Burning tears blurred her vision, and she quickly wiped them away.

Chat started to stand up, and she helped him to his feet. However, she did not let go of his hands when they were both upright. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she wasn’t sure whether it was from fear or something else. What she did know was that she needed to say exactly what she felt in that moment or else the words would drown in her mind and never be heard.

“I can’t lie to you, Chat Noir; your words scare me. Thinking about being vulnerable with feelings and attachments while under the mask makes me feel more nervous than it should. But, there is a bigger truth that I cannot deny anymore.”

As Ladybug spoke, Chat Noir felt his weak limbs grow strong, and his inflamed chest cooled down. His wife eyes gazed at her as his ears hung on each and every word.

“The truth is...is that, what is even more terrifying than letting myself have feelings, is denying my feelings, denying you, and losing you. I realize now that this is the most terrified I’ve ever felt, and I never want to feel it again.”

She looked down at their hands, and she gave a light squeeze, to reassure herself that it was all real more than anything else. She looked back up, gazing directly into his eyes.

“So, please, don’t make me lose you now.”

Chat Noir took a deep, steady breath as his chest cleared. He let go of one of her hands so that he could reach up and cup her cheek, and his head tilted slightly as his eyes softened. The flowers were gone, and yet they could both feel something blooming between them.

They leaned closer together, silently giving each other permission. They close their eyes, and Ladybug is the one to seal the distance, pressing their lips together. Electricity shot through them, and Chat’s hand dropped to her hip to hold her and pull her closer to him. Tears of pain changed tides to be tears of joy.

When they broke away, they rested their foreheads against each other’s before their eyelids fluttered open to gaze at each other. They both had goofy grins now, and neither needed to ask what this all meant or what they were to do now. None of that mattered. All that existed in that moment was them and their love, requited and cherished beyond belief.


End file.
